Coyote in my goose blind (graphic)

My girls were out for a hike earlier, came home, and told me "dad there's a dead deer in your goose blind!"

I was like "Oh THAT figures" (since I sat in that goose blind every day for a week and didn't see any deer to shoot).

But... Turned out it wasn't a deer at all.

http://i.imgur.com/02Tl1hRl.jpg

Looked to be a good 40-50 lbs, when it was alive. Not enough left to tell if it was shot. The snout was tangled up pretty good in the camo netting around the goose blind, and I thought maybe it snared itself in netting, but it slipped out when I pulled the netting with a stick.

$10 says it was eaten by family members.

It smelled worse than it looked.. a lot worse. Figured I'd leave it where it is and let nature take it's course; it'll be gone by next hunting season anyway.

I thought this was the oddest damn thing to find in a goose blind, though. Except that one time I went out and there were actually GEESE in my goose blind, nesting. (Out of season, unfortunately...)

They would have to be VERY hungry to do that. Coyotes don't typically cannibalize. I've set lots of them out both skinned and not in very heavily trafficked coyote areas and NEVER seen one eaten. Only a couple of times have I even seen buzzards eat on them.

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herkyguy

March 17, 2013, 05:37 PM

a snake maybe? or disease.

rcmodel

March 17, 2013, 06:00 PM

Looks like a Chupacabra to me.

rc

cyclopsshooter

March 17, 2013, 06:09 PM

Looks like a Chupacabra to me.

lol

Trent

March 17, 2013, 06:10 PM

I doubt they're starving. I still have raccoons getting in my trash at night, and there's more turkeys running around these hills than I can count. (They always disappear when I *do* get tags, though.)

This one was too far gone to tell if it'd been shot or wounded. Head was clear of any wounds.

Trent

March 17, 2013, 06:15 PM

Cupacabra!? If I ever see a half-lizard/half-dog thing I won't shoot it.. I'll catch it and be a millionaire! :)

We have a red fox burrow near that blind; do you think a fox would take down a 'yote?

Flintknapper

March 17, 2013, 06:48 PM

I was like "Oh THAT figures" (since I sat in that goose blind every day for a week and didn't see any deer).

Coyote figured he'd try the same thing, only he got bored to death. ;)

toiville2feathers

March 17, 2013, 06:57 PM

Be careful around it. It could have died from rabies and carrion eaters ate it. Coons carry pseudo rabies and coyotes eat them. By how clean the bones are I would think it was birds of some sort.

Texan Scott

March 17, 2013, 08:32 PM

Might'be been one of those rare wild critters that simply get old. Mighta just thought your blind looked like a nice private spot for a nap and didn't wake up. Point is, animals die. It's one thing we can all count on.

I saw vultures circling out back about two or three weeks ago, didn't think much of it though. Stuff is always getting killed back there (lots of coyotes around). Nature won't miss this one much, I'm afraid, there are dozens of more living nearby. There is quite a pack of them, which is odd, considering they're normally rather independent.

It'll be gone quick enough once the weather warms up enough for flies to hatch.

rcmodel

March 17, 2013, 09:27 PM

Where do you live?

I see no mention of the region in your User Details?

Was it a pit blind a weak animal couldn't jump out of of tangled in the netting?

Rough or wet winters, or extended droughts and old coyotes result in things like this.

Mother nature can be real cruel, but thats just the way it is for all of us.
Sooner or later.

rc

hey_poolboy

March 17, 2013, 10:15 PM

With all of the firepower you have how can you have a coyote problem? :)

I suppose you've got the same problem I have....too much life and not enough time.

If you ever need a hand getting rid of them just give me a call. Never been able to hunt out your way.

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Trent

March 18, 2013, 10:00 AM

rc;

The blind is built up from the ground, not a pit.

It's a good 30 years old, built long before we moved out here. Doesn't see much use for goose hunting anymore since I don't have much of a lake out back. 30 years ago the water there was 8 foot and extended up the shore another 200 yards. When we moved here 6 years ago it had filled in up to my property, and my boys could walk across from one side to another. Now? There's a little stream running through.

Ag runoff, erosion, takes it's toll. I imagine one day it'll make a heck of a garden spot. :)

Taken from the goose blind the year we moved here;

http://i.imgur.com/iQj7XYgl.jpg

Taken just to the right of the goose blind this winter;

http://i.imgur.com/1PDAaJbl.jpg

Heck of a change!

With all of the firepower you have how can you have a coyote problem?

I suppose you've got the same problem I have....too much life and not enough time.

If you ever need a hand getting rid of them just give me a call. Never been able to hunt out your way.

I don't have much land, and the neighbors houses are too close to use slugs or centerfire. My little spot is just over 100 yards from the closest neighbor, which means I don't have to ask permission to coyotes, geese, deer or whatever else; as long as I use a bow or shot.

To shoot deer with slugs or coyotes with rifles I'd have to ask permission from half the subdivision (300 yard from any occupied building), even though I have a great backstop on the other side (80' hill with no buildings for a good 5 miles!).

buck460XVR

March 18, 2013, 12:13 PM

Could be if it is not on your property, someone else that shot or trapped the 'yote may have thrown in in the blind. I see stuff like that happening all the time on public land. Other dirtball hunters will take a dump, and/or throw garbage in other folks old permanent blinds outta spite, or just cause they can.

I'd rake the carcass and the top layer of dirt/leaves outta there and dump a bag of lime inside the blind. By next hunting season the ground inside there will be good and sweet.

Trent

March 18, 2013, 12:48 PM

Think I'll wait for the flies to take a little more meat off of it this spring, before I do that. That carcass is RANK.

788Ham

March 18, 2013, 01:27 PM

Put some Vicks in your nose and go drag that mangy sucker outta there while its still cold! Why leave that thing to saturate the ground with his odor/sickness, then when you want to use it, you'll be afraid of getting something. Vicks is used by a lot of ME's that come on scene of deceased.

MtnCreek

March 18, 2013, 01:29 PM

Trent,
I would have to clean that pond back out; it's very nice in the first picture. Make a small pool (like a little pond) upstream, then pipe that into the main pond. That will catch a lot of the silt and you'll just need to maintain it every year or so.

I think live yotes will eat dead yotes. There's not much around here that can drap a yote carcass other than another yote. I've left dead yotes and after about a week they'll typically be drug somewhere else.

buck460XVR

March 18, 2013, 03:32 PM

Think I'll wait for the flies to take a little more meat off of it this spring, before I do that. That carcass is RANK.

Then you allow the spring rains to leach the stink and body fluids deeper into the ground and in a bigger area. The longer it sits there, the more the smell were permeate the netting and camo. From the looks of the carcass, most of the rank smell is probably already in/on the ground itself. Get it outta there and bury it somewhere else while it's still in one piece.

amflyer

March 19, 2013, 01:15 PM

$10 says it was eaten by family members.

1. Do not kiss your family members at the Easter get-together this year
2. Do not let your family members use your goose blind anymore
3. Use that $10 and get them some McDonald's gift certificates, or at least leave a bottle of catsup in the blind for them, along with a small tin of breath mints.

mnhntr

March 19, 2013, 09:05 PM

Mange

Trent

March 20, 2013, 09:51 AM

Trent,
I would have to clean that pond back out; it's very nice in the first picture. Make a small pool (like a little pond) upstream, then pipe that into the main pond. That will catch a lot of the silt and you'll just need to maintain it every year or so.

The "pond" is an inlet in a larger lake. There's 3 houses along the narrow channel - my two neighbors further up the inlet have had nice, lush backyards with a stream running through them for years. My back yard is still in the process of filling in.

My neighbor at the end, up the road, *did* dig the lake out about 20 years ago when this process started filling in his back yard. They dredged it back out to about 8' deep. Two weeks later a big thunderstorm rolled through and the entirety of his newly-constructed hillside slid spectacularly back to where it came from and filled it all back in.

No further attempts at dredging have been done.

Complicating issues, about 10 years ago the lake manager at the time lowered the lake level 3 feet (for some reason). That winter there was a hard freeze and ice shoved (what is now a sub-surface) ridge up on the back left edge of my property. This further slowed the creek feeding the lake at this end, allowing the deposit of all the sediment pretty much directly behind my house.

There's really no answer to the problem, other than at some point within the next few years I'll have one heck of a garden growing down there. ;)

FYI, my deed says my property line extends 10' in to the lake, which no longer exists behind my house, so I'm claiming the land in the name of Trent. :evil:

(it adds about 2 acres to my property)

coyote315

March 20, 2013, 10:00 AM

I've never seen coyotes cannibalize either, even on the skinned- out bodies i left in their areas to see if they would work for bait.

they'll eat a dog in a hurry though!

MtnCreek

March 20, 2013, 01:22 PM

Survey it using adjacent property plats, register it at the courthouse, pay taxes on it and put a fence up. :evil:

Next yote I off, I'll put a trail came on it. GA's a long ways off, but I'll try to remember to put a bottle of ketchup nearby, just in case. :)

buck460XVR

March 20, 2013, 07:29 PM

The "pond" is an inlet in a larger lake. There's 3 houses along the narrow channel - my two neighbors further up the inlet have had nice, lush backyards with a stream running through them for years. My back yard is still in the process of filling in.

My neighbor at the end, up the road, *did* dig the lake out about 20 years ago when this process started filling in his back yard. They dredged it back out to about 8' deep. Two weeks later a big thunderstorm rolled through and the entirety of his newly-constructed hillside slid spectacularly back to where it came from and filled it all back in.

No further attempts at dredging have been done.

Complicating issues, about 10 years ago the lake manager at the time lowered the lake level 3 feet (for some reason). That winter there was a hard freeze and ice shoved (what is now a sub-surface) ridge up on the back left edge of my property. This further slowed the creek feeding the lake at this end, allowing the deposit of all the sediment pretty much directly behind my house.

There's really no answer to the problem, other than at some point within the next few years I'll have one heck of a garden growing down there. ;)

FYI, my deed says my property line extends 10' in to the lake, which no longer exists behind my house, so I'm claiming the land in the name of Trent. :evil:

(it adds about 2 acres to my property)

Sounds like it may be doing what it was originally intended to do.....that is as a sediment pond to trap sediment before it enters the main lake body. Many man-made lakes do this as it keeps the main body of water from filling in by slowing down water laden with sediment and other contaminates such as field run-off, during times of heavy rains. Many times these small ponds were originally intended to be periodically dredged as they filled in. Then folks realized what contaminates were in the sediment. Nowadays, chances are that sediment is considered Toxic Waste and must be disposed of as such. Because of the cost of disposal and the hassle of even getting a permit to dredge, unless it is in a municipality jurisdiction, they are no longer taken care of. In the case of small ponds that were once created for fill for sub-divisions and road construction, getting permits to dredge is almost impossible because of the cost and liability involved along with the newer Wetland provisions. Liability may be the reason the Lake Manager lowered the water level by three feet. Often, when Dam licenses are renewed, the Corps of Engineers or other fed/state agencies determine what catastrophic effect the Dam going out might have. Depending on what they determine, and whats below the dam itself, recommendations regularly are made to lower the level of the water above the Dam to lessen the damage done. Sometimes this determination is done by the company insuring the Dam Owner. If the stream the feeds the pond is determined to be "Navigable Water", then any altering at all other than that done by or approved by the Corps of Engineers, is forbidden under Federal Laws. Even very small streams that are only navigable by canoe one day a year during spring runoff, many times are classified as "Navigable". 30 years ago no one cared. Folks dug ponds, Dammed streams and changed the course of a stream without so much as a second thought. Folks built boat docks and piers as big and as far out into the lake as they wanted, and could afford. Now in today's legal and environmental climate it's not that easy to do even when one is only trying to rehabilitate. To get a permit, you need to pay for an environmental impact study, and then go to the town/county board before going to whatever state agency is in charge of surface and groundwater. If you ain't got friends in high places you may as well stay home.

MtnCreek

March 20, 2013, 07:52 PM

Army Corps is not involved with most smaller ponds. There's a threshold of so many in/ac or height of dam (assuming you're still otherwise outside their jurisdiction). I don't know what your local gov is like, but around here just call it an Ag operation and you're good-to-go. :)

publiuss

March 20, 2013, 10:28 PM

I've had beaver & nutria fall into a pit blind and die, but never a coyote.

Sam Cade

March 20, 2013, 10:58 PM

I've never seen coyotes cannibalize

Must be a regional thing.

A couple years ago I ran over a coyote.

The next morning I ran over the coyote who was eating his roadkilled compadre. :D

Trent

March 22, 2013, 07:04 PM

Interesting thoughts on the lake issues. An increasing number of the original owners out here are moving / dying off from age, and being replaced by a younger generation of ne'er do wells like myself. Lake is managed by the HOA; it's a private lake. Not sure how this changes things with the various government agencies, I'd assume they'd be less enthusiastic about helping fix a problem at a private lake.

I was actually offered the lake manager job last fall, by the current lake manager, but turned it down. Maybe take it in a year or two when my work schedule isn't so hit & miss. A lot of work for very little reward. However.. if I were lake manager I *could* lower the water level again to empty out what's little water is behind my place, to actually do some work! I'm friends with the owner of the local John Deere construction equipment dealership.. we could make short work of it. (He dug out a private lake that's about 10 acres in size, on his property). :)